“When the army men hanged my panties, bras with the wall hooks, littered my sanitary pads…”

“When the army men hanged my panties, bras with the wall hooks, littered my sanitary pads…”

Sara Ahmad (name changed) is a scholar from South Kashmir’s Shopian district. She is currently studying at one of the Universities in Kashmir. Here she writes about her harrowing experience in the year 2006 when she felt disgraced after Indian soldiers littered her undergarments and sanitary pads in her room-her little universe- in a bid to teach her a lesson. She is yet to overcome the trauma she faced as a teenager girl..

Sara Ahmad

In the year 2006, I would always wake up early in the morning to prepare for my competitive exams. I would leave the bed every day at 6 am.

Before opening the books, I would lazily stand near the window of my room to see the happenings outside. My eyes would look at the apple orchards, beyond it was visible the gurgling stream which looked like a snake crawling through lush green landscape and beyond…